State reports 1st West Nile virus case of 2014

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts health officials are reporting the state's first human case of West Nile Virus this year.

The patient is described only as a man in his 60s who lives in Middlesex County. Officials say the man remains hospitalized, but is recovering.

The Department of Public Health said in a statement on Friday that the diagnosis of West Nile was confirmed by testing at the Hinton state lab in Boston.

Officials say they are trying to determine when the man was most likely to have been exposed to mosquitoes infected with the virus.

There were eight confirmed cases of West Nile among Massachusetts residents last year, none of them fatal.

Symptoms can include fever or flu-like illnesses.

The Department of Public Health lists the West Nile risk as of Aug. 18 as moderate in the Boston area, including Brookline, Newton, Watertown, Cambridge, Belmont Arlington, Medford and Somerville, and low for the rest of the state.

No human cases of eastern equine encephalitis, another mosquito-born illness, have been reported this year. In southeastern Massachusetts, the risk is considered high in Freetown and moderate in Acushnet, Berkley, Bridgewater, Canton, Dighton, Easton, Fall River, Hanson, Hingham, Lakeville, Middleboro, New Bedord, Raynham, Rehoboth, Rochester, Rockland, Swansea and Whitman.